ABSTRACT
In this chapter emphasis is given to the fact that maritime regulation implementation is a complicated issue. The numerous stakeholders could contribute to a smooth and rapid implementation process. However, this willingness will be proportional to the business impacts that they will have to suffer. The main impact is the effect of the financial costs. Under the RIA approach, the regulatory environment should not be a headache for small players in an industry. As it was suggested in FSA, studies’ costs should be reasonable and proportional to the hazard that will be minimized. A balance of costs and benefits among the stakeholders of the industry will affect positively the implementation of a maritime regulation, increasing their interest in implementing a regulation. As was revealed in previous chapters, various stakeholders use some practices to minimize their regulatory obligations due to costs, as well as their need for protection from more lax regimes.
The findings from a research carried by Karahalios et al. are discussed in this chapter in order to investigate the commercial perspectives that describe the operational activities of each main stakeholder of the shipping industry. A system of scorecards that includes the commercial activities of every stakeholder was proposed as a cost–benefit tool. Although different in structure and purpose, it appears that the stakeholders are worried about their performance in similar perspectives.
The ranking of stakeholders shows the primary role of the states in the implementation of a regulation. On the other hand, there are many important stakeholders who should not be neglected during the implementation procedure. Instead, efforts should be escalated for their participation, emphasizing the great benefits they can gain. A notable finding is that the crew members have a very low weight in the implementation process, although they are the people that are significantly affected.
More regulations make the shipping industry more complicated. Consequently, the stakeholders that suffer most of the burdens of a newly introduced maritime regulation may try to postpone its implementation. This could be achieved through the IMO with the assistance of NGOs by putting commercial pressure on other stakeholders and threatening that they will stop doing business with them. The FOCs are a typical example of this case.
